How Nyamira town is walking away from the Kisii shadow

For a long time, Nyamira town lived in the glory of Kisii town, its perceived bigger brother. Some people still argue that Nyamira town, located in the former Kisii North district, is yet to break the chain and gain full autonomy.

But times are changing and things are shaping up for Nyamira.

Modern buildings are rising, giving the town a new skyline. The Nyabite open-air market remains the biggest and most significant in the town, Nyamira County’s capital. The progress might have been slow, but it is conspicuous for all to see. Residents and entrepreneurs say devolution has played the biggest role in uplifting the face of the town.

In particular, the hotel industry is now growing by leaps and bounds, even as new entrants storm the market. Until 2019, the town had only two hotels – Guardian and Borabu Inn. Then the imposing Helsinki added variety and choice. The hoteliers agree that the county government has been critical in sustaining them.

Alfred Ocharo is the manager of Guardian hotel.

"This hotel was started in 2011. Back then, our market was limited to the national government officials in the former provincial administration offices that were here in town,” he said.

“However, when the county government came in, we had more customers. Our sales tripled from about Sh200,000 a month to over a million," he said.

Besides the county government promoting the hotel industry in the town, he said, it has induced the growth of other amenities and developments.

"You know the prices of land shot up around here. Roads have also been constructed in almost every place and we have nowhere to expand our premises. The land is also too much subdivided," he said.

But Mr Ocharo acknowledged that neighbouring Kisii County has better facilities than Nyamira, though he offered that with time and a better enabling environment, Nyamira can catch up with former and other neighbouring counties.

"The national government did a lot of disservice to this town. It established virtually everything in Kisii town and let Nyamira lag behind, but we will catch up," he said.

Nyamira Governor Amos Nyaribo said the county government plans to open up and murram more roads.

“For the first time, Nyamira town has tarmacked backstreets,” said Mr Nyaribo.

He also said the devolved unit has developed spatial planning for the town and county.

“This plan will guide future development,” he said.

Nyamira town will keep rising, said Wilfred Makori, the chief supervisor of Helsinki hotel. The hotel, he said, opened just when Covid-19 had struck Kenya but they managed to contain the consequences of the pandemic.

"Imagine opening a hotel when travel was being cancelled, meetings and gatherings being banned, and confusion in the air. That was exactly the situation in which we found ourselves, but we had to make do with it. We really struggled with the wage bill, but we are grateful things are getting better," he said.

Modern hotels

By size, the hotel that shares its name with the capital of Finland is the biggest. It is the only one of the three major hotels in Nyamira that is located on the town's periphery. Mr Makori acknowledges that this has hurt the hotel but plans are underway to mitigate the effects.

"At first, the land on which this hotel sits was purchased without a clear idea about how it would be used. Later, the proprietor chose to construct a warehouse, but his friends later advised him to set up a guest house instead. Finally, it was decided that it should become a full hotel, not just a guest house," he said.

"However, being in a more remote area of the town has not been good for us. We hardly get locals coming in. They, in fact, complain about our prices and rates, but we understand."

Helsinki hotel has tapped its physical location and the internet to get more customers. Mr Makori said that they have marketers and public relations offices in the major entry points in the region and some parts of the world.

"We have our people at the Kisumu and Eldoret airports, and in Finland too. They coordinate with the online teams to direct visitors to our hotel, and I can say that so far, our success rate is at 60 per cent," he offered.

Mr Ocharo, the manager of Guardian hotel, laments the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the business.

"Meetings, seminars and workshops were our main income sources. They were all halted, and even though they are coming back, the online events and meetings still hold a good number of our would-be customers," he said.

He added that before the pandemic, the hotel had 32 workers. But many were furloughed while others were laid off. The total workforce now is 22, he said.

He says the county government should do something to attract more visitors to Nyamira, including sprucing up potential tourist attraction sites and laying better infrastructure and appropriate urban planning, which he says is in a shambles.

"If we had better roads in this town with outstanding amenities such as stable electricity and flowing tap water, things could have been much better for us and the town too. This town needs better planning than it is now if it is to attract more investors," he said.

Mr Ocharo encouraged locals to choose their facilities and town over others outside the county when looking for places to hold events. He also requested the county government to reduce the number of licences required, saying that the current ones are too many and expensive.

"We are required to have more than five licences. They cost us close to Sh300,000 a year. That's too much for us. The county government should also pay us (promptly), considering it is our greatest market. Sometimes it accumulates debts for more than a year and it hurts us a lot," he said.

Meanwhile, Helsinki hotel is planning to improve its services by introducing a portable swimming pool, a modern gym and other amenities, Mr Makori said. Nyamira has no such facilities and a modern club.

As election campaigns intensify, hotels in Nyamira can only smile and hope for the best. Political meetings are already being held in the hotels, and that is a new market frontier, the managers said.

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